A Deputy is suing the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office in federal court, claiming she faced retaliation, was forced to resign after bringing up issues to her superiors, and that her career has been destroyed since leaving the agency.
Victoria Jolly filed the lawsuit on Thursday, February 26th. The action says she joined the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office in January 2021 and received favorable performance reviews through 2023 and 2024.
The suit claims Jolly conducted an investigation in April and May of 2023 that involved a juvenile. A recorded interview reportedly was used to claim she was biased and not credible, rendering her unusable as a witness in court. She was then reprimanded by Captain Aaron Turk and demoted. In July 2023, a prosecutor declined to pursue a case because she was deemed “Giglio-impaired”, a designation stemming from a 1972 Supreme Court case that dictates that prosecutors must disclose information to the defense any evidence that could impact the credibility of government witnesses.
Later in 2023, Jolly reportedly asked for clarification and to correct the claim about her being biased. Sheriff Don Brown allegedly recharacterized the finding, but no corrective steps were supposedly taken to restore Jolly’s credibility.
In 2024, Jolly also reported that a coworker, Deputy Kyle Lawrence, made sexually inappropriate communications. She reported this to a superior, identified as Chief Deputy Brian Kelly, but Jolly said no meaningful corrective action was taken. Instead, she said scrutiny toward her intensified.
In December 2025, Jolly reportedly was involved in an on-duty rollover accident in which she suffered a concussion. The incident was reportedly escalated into major discipline and she claimed she overheard discussion related to misconduct concerns. Days later, she received documentation that she was unable to work until at least Dec. 15, 2025. However, Jolly said an internal affairs interrogation unfolded the day she got the documentation. Jolly claims in the suit that she faced coercive questioning and was pressured to resign, which she did.
After her resignation, Jolly said the Catawba County Sheriff’s Office filed an F-5 report, which is a mandatory document in North Carolina for law enforcement agencies to submit when an officer resigns, retires, dies, or is dismissed from duty. The report claimed Jolly faced a “substantiated allegation of untruthfulness”; Jolly said she was not allowed to clear her name and has faced job rejections because of the designation on her F-5 report.
Jolly is asking for the court to rule that her constitutional and federal statutory rights were violated, for compensatory and punitive damages, a meaningful hearing to allow her to clear her name, a correction or withdrawal of the untruthful designation on her F-5 report, injunctive relief that prevents future dissemination of the findings without due process, and for her attorneys’ fees and other equitable remedies to be covered.
WCNC TV